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To everyone who joined these forums at some point, and got discouraged by the negativity and left after a while (or even got literally scared off): I'm sorry.

I wasn't good enough at encouraging people to be kinder, and removing people who refuse to be kind. Encouraging people is hard, and removing people creates conflict, and I hate conflict... so that's why I wasn't better at it.

I was a very, very sensitive teen. The atmosphere of this forum as it is now, if it had existed in 1996, would probably have upset me far more than it would have helped.

I can handle quite a lot of negativity and even abuse now, but that isn't the point. I want to help people. I want to help the people who need it the most, and I want to help people like the 1996 version of me.

I'm still figuring out the best way to do that, but as it is now, these forums are doing more harm than good, and I can't keep running them.

Thank you to the few people who have tried to understand my point of view so far. I really, really appreciate you guys. You are beautiful people.

Everyone else: If after everything I've said so far, you still don't understand my motivations, I think it's unlikely that you will. We're just too different. Maybe someday in the future it might make sense, but until then, there's no point in arguing about it. I don't have the time or the energy for arguing anymore. I will focus my time and energy on people who support me, and those who need help.

-SoulRiser

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Nah it's actually pretty damn easy to read through though I'll save you the trouble and say that there's a LOT of history in it. However, you need to learn it in order to understand how such laws apply to the world.

I read it some time ago and don't remember all the details, but the impression I got is that it should be called "48 Ways to Act Like a Psychopath". The historical anecdotes are fun and there are some little gems of insight into human behavior, but the attitude of assuming that friendly gestures are calculated power moves and being prepared to do the same to others made me think that while this is a fun read with some interesting points, and good for expanding the perspectives you can view something from, it's hardly a great life guide. Maybe if you want to be paranoid it is.

That said, the book seemed amoral to me, it isn't really claiming that these things are good. Just how it is. Look at the overrepresentation of this type of person in C-levels.

Edit: Also, while there are undeniably excellent insights in this book, I would hesitate to try to practice any manipulative "tactics" picked up from it. It all feels extremely clever but people can see right through it.

(03-19-2017 02:35 PM)vonunov Wrote: I read it some time ago and don't remember all the details, but the impression I got is that it should be called "48 Ways to Act Like a Psychopath". The historical anecdotes are fun and there are some little gems of insight into human behavior, but the attitude of assuming that friendly gestures are calculated power moves and being prepared to do the same to others made me think that while this is a fun read with some interesting points, and good for expanding the perspectives you can view something from, it's hardly a great life guide. Maybe if you want to be paranoid it is.

That said, the book seemed amoral to me, it isn't really claiming that these things are good. Just how it is. Look at the overrepresentation of this type of person in C-levels.

Edit: Also, while there are undeniably excellent insights in this book, I would hesitate to try to practice any manipulative "tactics" picked up from it. It all feels extremely clever but people can see right through it.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I got from the book. I kind of liked it because it was a breath of fresh air. That said I slightly disagree with the "psychopath" statement; not all of the people who use the "laws" are psychopaths and might be dealing with even worse people, or the conditions they're dealt with.